Qu Yang

The road was still dangerous. Then again, traveling long distances in ancient times was always a risky business. Lin Pingzhi was the young master of the Fuwei Escort Agency, and normally, simply invoking the agency's name would have spared him plenty of trouble on the way from Fuzhou to Hengyang City. It might not have guaranteed a completely smooth journey, but it would have helped.

Wang Jingyuan had stopped him from doing that. As he put it, "When else are you going to get such a good chance to practice? These bandits are perfect training dummies. Junior Disciple Brother, get in there! You can hurt them, but you can't kill them."

Since his senior brother had ordered him to, and the bandits were no good people anyway, Lin Pingzhi had no choice but to steel himself and go in. What he couldn't understand was why Wang Jingyuan always told him to injure his enemies, never kill them.

At first, he thought Wang Jingyuan was merciful. But after Lin Pingzhi had dealt with the bandits, Wang Jingyuan would step in and kill every last one of them.

That day, another bandit who had been robbing travelers fell to Wang Jingyuan's sword. A satisfied smile spread across his face, making Yue Lingshan and Lin Pingzhi shiver where they stood.

Sure enough, grinding monsters was the fastest way to grow stronger.

Unable to hold back his curiosity any longer, Lin Pingzhi asked, "Senior Brother, why do you always make me spare their lives, only to take them yourself afterward?"

"Do you remember how many people I've killed along the way?"

Lin Pingzhi thought for a moment, then said, "I can't remember exactly, but I'd guess more than fifty."

"These people are monsters. They have to die one way or another. But if I told you to kill them, then you'd be the one who killed all those people on this journey. Would you be able to live with that?"

Lin Pingzhi knew himself fairly well. He wasn't afraid of killing, but he wasn't sure he could accept killing so many people who had done him no wrong. He shook his head. "I'd probably lie awake all night."

"Exactly. For a young man like you, this would be too much to bear. This sweet... heavy burden—I'll carry it alone."

"Senior Brother..." Lin Pingzhi was deeply moved. "But wouldn't it be hard on you, too?"

Wang Jingyuan shook his head. "Not at all."

Lin Pingzhi gazed at him with admiration. "Senior Brother, your state of mind is truly beyond—"

Wang Jingyuan grinned. "Because I enjoy it."

At the sight of Wang Jingyuan's beaming smile, Lin Pingzhi's heart tightened. He couldn't help wondering if the Mount Hua Sect really was a righteous sect. And every time his senior brother killed someone, he even...

Yue Lingshan said nothing, only rolled her eyes. She had long since accepted the fact that her junior brother had something wrong with his head.

"Young man, that's quite a bloodlust you have." An elderly voice suddenly came from nearby. Yue Lingshan and Lin Pingzhi turned warily toward the sound. As for Wang Jingyuan, he was still crouched on the ground, looting a corpse.

An expert could conceal his presence, but he couldn't hide his nameplate and health bar. Wang Jingyuan had spotted Qu Yang and Qu Feiyan's health bars trailing not too far behind the group for a while now.

Their health bars were yellow, so Wang Jingyuan had left them alone. They had no old grudges or recent enmities, and Qu Yang wasn't the sort to suddenly decide to fire a volley of Black Blood Divine Needles at him for no reason. So he hadn't bothered with them.

But now that the other man had spoken up, Wang Jingyuan couldn't just pretend he hadn't heard. "I'm just punishing the wicked. Besides, as an elder of the Sun Moon Holy Cult, you're the last person who should be saying that."

At Wang Jingyuan's words, Lin Pingzhi and Yue Lingshan tensed even more. Qu Yang, hidden in the shadows, was also taken aback. He was certain he had never seen this man during his travels through the jianghu.

How had the other man identified him just from his voice?

Wang Jingyuan casually produced a bottle of wine. "I bought this to earn Senior Brother's favor, but since we've run into each other, Elder Qu, would you like to join me for a drink?"

A lean old man with refined features stepped out of the nearby bushes. His eyes were bright and lively. By the time he reached them, Wang Jingyuan had spread a blanket over the corpse-strewn ground and laid out an assortment of dry rations.

Wang Jingyuan took out a few cups and poured the wine. Qu Yang didn't stand on ceremony. Ignoring Yue Lingshan and Lin Pingzhi, who were standing with their swords drawn, he sat down by the blanket and began to drink.

Wang Jingyuan waved the two of them over. "You can stop posing. If he wanted to kill us, the three of us together still wouldn't be a match for him."

Yue Lingshan and Lin Pingzhi considered this and sheathed their swords. But they still looked wary as they carefully sat down behind Wang Jingyuan.

Wang Jingyuan lifted a cup and drained it in one go. Qu Yang drank as he ate the dry rations.

Wang Jingyuan glanced at Qu Yang. "You're an old hand in the jianghu. Why didn't you check the food and drink for poison before having any? What if I'd poisoned it?"

Qu Yang continued eating and drinking as if nothing had happened. Lin Pingzhi, who had just picked up his cup, froze. But seeing Wang Jingyuan and Qu Yang finish their first cups, he immediately berated himself for being so timid.

So what if it was poisoned? As long as he could die alongside an elder of the Demonic Cult, he couldn't lose his righteous bearing. He stiffened his neck and gulped down the wine.

Only after finishing the last of his wine did Qu Yang answer. "You openly told everyone that Mount Hua was after the Bixie Sword Manual. Why would you poison the wine?"

Wang Jingyuan shook his head. "News travels fast. What do you mean, 'after it'? Chief Escort Lin of the Fuwei Escort Agency offered it to Mount Hua himself. And you're terrible at reading people."

Qu Yang frowned. "Did you poison it?"

"No."

Qu Yang took another drink. "As long as you haven't poisoned it now, then my judgment is sound. If you were a mediocrity, you wouldn't have recognized me and invited me for a drink. And if you were a villain, your fellow disciples wouldn't choose to live or die alongside you."

Wang Jingyuan glanced at Lin Pingzhi. "He's an honest fellow. Easy to take advantage of."

Then Wang Jingyuan looked at Qu Yang again. "You, I suppose, are a decent person. Your morals are above the average for this jianghu. Since we've run into each other, it's only natural to offer you a drink."

Qu Yang's eyes lit up. "It's rare to meet someone so young who has no sectarian prejudice."

Wang Jingyuan denied it. "Who said I have no sectarian prejudice? I've got plenty. It's just that there's no one else around..."

Yue Lingshan and Lin Pingzhi: "..."

Wang Jingyuan continued, "There's no one around, so I can drink and chat with you. If we ran into each other in public, I'd act like you and I were mortal enemies, and I'd curse you out.

"I'd curse you pretty harshly, so I hope you won't take it to heart. We're on different sides, after all. We're all just trying to make a living."

Qu Yang suddenly burst out laughing. "Hahahaha! You really are an amusing fellow!"

Wang Jingyuan glanced to the side. "You're sitting here eating and drinking your fill while making your granddaughter stand over there and watch. Is that really appropriate?"

Qu Yang's eyebrows twitched. "Feifei, since you've already been spotted, come over and have something to eat."

A rustling came from the other side. A moment later, a petite, lively little girl with green clothes and dark hair bounced into view. Her smile was sly as a fox, though her brows still held the innocence of childhood.

When she came over, she blinked her big eyes and looked Wang Jingyuan up and down. "Big Brother, how did you find me and Grandpa?"

"I already told you. You wouldn't understand."

"Hmph! You're so stingy." Qu Feiyan plopped down beside Qu Yang and began heartily chewing on the dry rations.

Qu Yang glanced at Wang Jingyuan. "As an elder of the Holy Cult, I know the Five Great Sword Sects pretty well. The other sects would be one thing, but Mount Hua has very few people. I know the circumstances of its disciples like the back of my hand, yet you appeared out of nowhere. I imagine you only joined Mount Hua recently.

"And yet you, a newly initiated disciple, were able to take the sect leader's daughter all the way to Fuzhou to accept a junior disciple on your master's behalf. May I ask who you are, young brother?"

Wang Jingyuan shook his head. "My situation is too complicated. It'd be too difficult to explain in terms you'd understand, so I'll just leave it at that. Why don't we talk about something more important?"